Evangelism is not a spiritual gift by itself but it takes a combination of spiritual gifts to do evangelism. There are various angles of evangelism that a believer can take.
Some may evangelize through singing because they are gifted in singing. Others may evangelize through miracles because they have the gift of performing miracles.
Those with the prophetic gift can evangelize through prophecy. Others who have the gift of knowledge can evangelize using their gift of knowledge.
The truth is that everyone is gifted in some way. And that gift can be used to evangelize.
Evangelism is for Everyone
Most people who ask if evangelism is a spiritual gift do so because they don’t want to be held accountable for not evangelizing. It is true that evangelism can be intimidating but we are not given the spirit of fear but of power, love and sound mind.
This means that we must conquer every fear of evangelizing. Whoever confesses to be a disciple of Jesus is expected to evangelize in one way or another.
When Jesus was leaving, He instructed His disciples to wait for power from God. After they received power on the day of Pentecost, they became bold and began evangelizing.
All the apostles preached the gospel of Jesus. Some preached to in synagogues, others preached on the street, others focused on rebuking mistakes among believers but all were evangelizing.
This shows that preaching the gospel of Jesus is for everyone that believes. When the Samaritan woman had an encounter with Jesus, she went to tell others to come and meet Him.
In her heart, she believed Jesus was a special prophet. In fact, the action of having faith in Jesus is sharing your faith with others.
Empowerment to Evangelize
Evangelism is hard if your faith in Jesus is weak. The stronger your faith in Jesus becomes, the easier it becomes to evangelize.
Most believers who struggle to evangelize don’t have strong faith in Jesus. Most of them believe in Jesus but are afraid to get in trouble for Him. Somehow they doubt if it is worth it to get themselves in trouble for Jesus.
But we know from scripture that if you love Jesus, you must be ready to lay down your life for Him. To what degree you lay down your life for Jesus is dependent on your faith in Him.
Some may be willing to lose their jobs to defend their faith in Jesus. Others may give up their relationship with family to defend their faith. The fact remains that we will be rewarded based on what and how much of it we laid down for Jesus.
Empowerment to evangelize through spiritual gifts
Evangelism becomes a lot easier when you put the gift God gave you to work. Evangelizing with your own strength is difficult.
If you are gifted in prayer, use prayer to evangelize. Identify people who need to know Jesus and pray for them. God will see your effort in prayer and send His word to the person you are praying for.
When such people receive Jesus, you will be counted worthy of a reward for winning their soul. Unlike what most believers think, evangelism doesn’t have to be done through word of mouth.
Evangelism can be done in unlimited ways based on the gift you have. Some of us are gifted in writing. If we use our writing to reach out to people with the gospel of Christ, that is evangelism.
Didn’t Paul write letters to different churches? Are not those letters helpful even today? Apostle Paul is still winning souls to Christ through the letters He wrote.
How many people have given their lives to Christ after watching the passion of the Christ? Everyone involved in creating that movie is worthy of a reward.
In short, anything that you do with your hands that wins a soul to Jesus is a form of evangelism. And the truth is that you can evangelize in unlimited ways.
Therefore, work on perfecting your gift. Spend time in prayer and reading of the word of God. You can only give what you have received.
There are many cases of people who came to Christ because they listened to someone’s testimony. Even your testimony of how Jesus saved you can be used to evangelize. It is a gift.
How to Master Evangelism through your Gifts
Discover your gifts
There is not a single human being who is not gifted by God in one way or another. The number of gifts available is infinite.
Though some of the gifts may not be considered spiritual gifts, they are still gifts from God. A person who is good at story telling is gifted.
The Bible tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Spirits. There is no good thing that does not come from God.
If you are naturally drawn to smile, the smiles are a gift from God. Do you know that there are people who just want to see someone smile at them?
You can use your smile to do evangelism. Though you may have to add a few other skills, the smile can be the deciding factor.
I have seen men listen to an evangelist just because she was beautiful. Her beauty is a gift from God that keeps men listening to her. Though some may have ill intentions, at the end of the day, the message has been passed.
Therefore, find out the gifts God has given you. Then figure out how you can use them to evangelize.
Right Expectations
Evangelism is not equal to winning souls to Jesus. In fact, the goal of evangelism is not always to win souls to Christ. Sometimes we go out to proclaim the punishment that will come on unbelievers.
There are evangelists who speak against evil done in churches. Such evangelists may not win many people to Christ but they help many believers know the truth.
Other believers who quietly pray for their friends, neighbors, workmates etc are evangelizing even if those people they are praying for don’t turn to God.
A failed evangelism mission is one where a believer didn’t take any action. But provided you took an action, be it praying for someone, writing a post on social media, talking to a stranger or any other good deed, you have your reward in heaven.
Remember Rahab who hid the spies Joshua had sent; her act was an act of faith that pleased God.
Set your expectations about evangelism right and you will have an easy time preaching the gospel of Christ.
All the best!